NorthWestern Energy Group (NWE) Competitors

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP (NYSE:SBS) and NorthWestern Energy Group (NYSE:NWE) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, community ranking, media sentiment, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SBS or NWE?

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP received 216 more outperform votes than NorthWestern Energy Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.16% of users gave Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP an outperform vote while only 37.50% of users gave NorthWestern Energy Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP	Outperform Votes 228 58.16%	Underperform Votes 164 41.84%
NorthWestern Energy Group	Outperform Votes 12 37.50%	Underperform Votes 20 62.50%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in SBS or NWE?

10.6% of Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of NorthWestern Energy Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of NorthWestern Energy Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate SBS or NWE?

NorthWestern Energy Group has a consensus target price of $59.25, indicating a potential upside of 6.43%. Given NorthWestern Energy Group's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe NorthWestern Energy Group is more favorable than Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	4.00
NorthWestern Energy Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, SBS or NWE?

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP has higher revenue and earnings than NorthWestern Energy Group. Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NorthWestern Energy Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP	$26.17B	0.47	$705.76M	$2.55	7.07
NorthWestern Energy Group	$1.51B	2.26	$224.11M	$3.65	15.25

Is SBS or NWE a better dividend stock?

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP pays an annual dividend of $0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. NorthWestern Energy Group pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP pays out 8.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NorthWestern Energy Group pays out 72.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. NorthWestern Energy Group has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years. NorthWestern Energy Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is SBS or NWE more profitable?

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP has a net margin of 25.62% compared to NorthWestern Energy Group's net margin of 14.81%. Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP's return on equity of 27.73% beat NorthWestern Energy Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP	25.62%	27.73%	13.50%
NorthWestern Energy Group	14.81%	7.40%	2.68%

Which has more risk and volatility, SBS or NWE?

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NorthWestern Energy Group has a beta of 0.45, indicating that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to SBS or NWE?

In the previous week, Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP had 1 more articles in the media than NorthWestern Energy Group. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP and 7 mentions for NorthWestern Energy Group. NorthWestern Energy Group's average media sentiment score of 1.45 beat Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP's score of 0.87 indicating that NorthWestern Energy Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NorthWestern Energy Group	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP beats NorthWestern Energy Group on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.